Finn Lynch lives a quiet, tranquil life in a rural village in the mountains. Her life may lack spontaneity and excitement, but at least it's peaceful. And if it's a little lonely too, then she can't complain too much - she's still happy, after all.
...
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Lily Evans, Finn decides, is an angel.
Finn had been terribly nervous as they had settled at the kitchen table — she hates meeting new people, and she's worried that she's going to say something stupid and make Lily hate her right off the bat. Mercifully, however, Lily is patient and friendly and fills in all the horrible gaps that Finn accidentally creates because of her awkward silences. Her smiles are kind and friendly as she rocks the child in her lap, and she doesn't act as though she regrets coming outside to sit with her at all. Though Finn tries to force herself to relax, Lily obviously picks up her uneasiness — rather than withdraw, she confides that she is in fact a Muggle-born witch, and had grown up in a Muggle household. It's such a simple thing, but Finn finds her tension easing a little at the revelation that they're not so dissimilar after all.
"My sister never quite got used to the idea," Lily shares with her as though they've been friends for years. "She's always resented me for leaving her behind, I think, but it's difficult. Magical communities are so insular, and there's very little cross-over between those two worlds. When you're a Muggle-born, it feels as though you're forced to choose between the two."
Finn listens to her with rapt attention. In truth, she's curious. Listening to Lily discuss her experience as a Muggle-born is very different to listening to Regulus or Evan — for Lily, it's clear that magic still retains that element of wonder. She treats it as a gift as opposed to a right.
"I always found that part a little difficult, living with Al," Finn admits very quietly. It's a thought that she's never quite put into words before. "My mam — his sister — was a Muggle, and so were my grandparents. I think there were other witches and wizards somewhere in the family, but we never had contact with them. And then when Al went off to Hogwarts, he withdrew into that strange magic society as well. I hardly ever saw him, until my parents died and I came to live with him. And even then, his job meant that he was gone... quite often."
Lily grimaces to show her sympathy. "Wizarding laws make it very difficult to live amongst Muggles. The Statute of Secrecy means that most magic folk just choose to live in magical communities or in rural areas, because it's not worth the bother of trying to hide yourself and your magic from Muggles all the time."
"Is that why your sister was upset?" Finn wonders, hoping that she's not overstepping. "Because she misses you?"
Lily's sympathetic expression falters a little, before she looks down at her lap and clears her throat. Her baby is curled up against her chest, and she strokes absent-mindedly at a dark tuft of his hair as she considers her response.
"I'm not sure," She says at last. "I don't even know if she loves me anymore, honestly, or if she even still considers me family. She never even responded to me when I wrote to her when Harry was born, you know."
"Oh." Finn's gaze drops down to the baby in her lap, her stomach squirming uncomfortably.
He really is a cute little thing. Finn isn't overly familiar with babies, but he strikes her as a very well-behaved child — he blinks up at his mother with eyes that are the mirror image of her own, suckling absently at his thumb as he watches her speak as though she's the most wonderful thing that he's ever seen. But Finn can hardly look at the child without thinking of James' terrified teary eyes and emotional pleas for information from Regulus. It's like the elephant in the room, and she doesn't know how to move on without addressing it.
